Pretty Little Plan
by LadycashUT
Summary: Emily is really missing Maya while she's away at juvie and comes up with a plan to see her for the night. She also has to tell Maya about what happened between her and Paige. A Maya/Emily/Paige love triangle. First FF lol so bare with me
1. Chapter 1

"Emily, I really don't know if this will work out" Maya said with worry in her voice through her cell phone.

"It will Maya, just trust me. Just make sure you're ready at 10 oclock on the dot" Emily said with much hope.

"Are you sure you want to go through all this? I don't want you to get in trouble or anything and plus it will be late and…"

"I don't even care if I get in trouble Maya. I know it's risky but I really need to see you. I can't stop thinking about you. I miss you." Emily said cutting Maya off.

"I miss you to babe. Ok, I'll be ready at 10pm sharp. What time should I tell Cody I'll be back?"

"Well what time does breakfast start?"

"I starts at 7am."

"Ok well tell him you'll be back at 6" Emily said sadly realizing that there time together would be shorter than she expected.

"Emily, I cant believe that you would do all this for me. I never thought in a million years that you'd come and sneak me out here." Maya said

"I care about you Maya, I could never just leave my baby up there all by her lonesome" Emily replied smiling on the other side of the phone.

Emily heard a car pull up in front of her house. She looked out the window and say that it was her mother coming home from work.

"Oh no my moms home….don't forget 10pm" Emily said briskly.

"Alright see you later on tonight" Maya said sounding excited

"Bye babe." Emily hung up the phone to greet her mom at the door. Emily was anticipating telling her mom that she was going to spend the night at Hannah's house and leaving at 8. But in actuality, she was planning to leave at 8pm to make the 2 hour drive the hell house that Maya is force to call home. Fortunately, there are a few sane people at the camp that Maya is at and her new friend Cody, whose at the camp for under aged drinking, is going to cover for her during her temporary escape.

"Hey Emily, will you help me with these groceries?" Pam asked "I stopped by the store after work."

"Sure Mom" said Emily as she rushed to the car to get the rest of the food. By the time she came back with the rest of the food her mom had already started preparing for dinner.

"Mom you don't have to have cook too much tonight, I'm going to watch a movie and then spend the night at Hannahs"

"You were just at Hannah's last weekend, why are you going over there so often?" Crap Emily thought to herself. I should have said I'm going to Spencers.

"Well last week it was just me and Hannah, but today the whole crews coming over" Emily said a little bit too quickly.

"Ok well make sure you're back tomorrow morning for breakfast. And this is they last weekend this month you're spending that night somewhere else. If you want to see your friends so bad, they can spend the night here" Pam said as she wondered if there was something going on between Hannah and her daughter.

"Fine mom, I'm going to get ready" Emily said as she walked up the stairs.

Once Emily got to here room, she closed the door, softly screamed "Yes" excitedly, as she did a little happy dance before she began looking for the perfect outfit to wear for her night with Maya. It's been 3 weeks since Emily has seen Maya but to her it feels like it had been three years.

She pulled out her blue jean skirt, and her button up red and blue top. I was 6:17pm and Emily hopped in the shower to ensure she was squeaky clean. She used her favorite raspberry-shampoo and brushed here teeth until they were pristine. As she got dressed she turned on her Ipod and started listening to SWV's "Weak." She felt that it was the perfect song to play at the moment because Maya had always given her butterflies in her stomach. She thought about Maya's dark caramel skin and how she used to caress her late hours into the night. She thought about how they would cuddle in her bed and how she felt so comfortable as Maya would whisper sweetness into her hear. She also remembered how she could talk about almost anything with Maya and how she bought out the best in her in everything she did.

Then she remembered the kiss in the car with Paige. "Craaaap" Emily said to herself. She knew that she would have to tell Maya about what happen and she was not sure how she would react to it. She felt obligated to tell Maya because she cared for her so much and she felt that it would be wrong if she didn't. In fact, it was killing her in the inside knowing that she had kept this secret for a while now.

Soon, she looked at the clock and it was 7:35pm. Not wanting to wait any longer, she decided to leave early and get gas.

"Bye Mom" she said as she nervously walked to the car. She started the ignition and went to the nearest gas station. She put 20 dollars' worth of gas and sped off to rescue her girlfriend.

Soon her phone started ringing. She looked and it was a number she had never seen before.

"Hello?" she said in a confused voice.

"Emily"

"Maya! Whose phone is this?"

"It's Cody's, I can't make any outgoing calls from my phone so I used his! Where are you? Are you on the way?" Maya asked anxiously. It was only 9pm but Maya was already dress and ready to see Emily.

"Yep I'm on the road" Emily said

"Hurry, I can't wait to see you. I miss you."

"I miss you too, I should be there in about 45 minutes."

"So tell what you're wearing" Emily said flirtingly.

"It's a surprise. The quicker, you come, the quicker you get to see it" Maya said teasingly

"Oh trust me I'll be there sooner then you know" Emily smiled, trying to imagine Maya in her mind and thinking about how she can make any piece of clothing look sexy.

When Emily got off the phone, she drove a little faster to cut some driving time. Soon she saw the exit to Maya's camp and a smile rose to her face. She was almost there. As she exited the freeway, there was a soft pop noise that came from her car but she didn't notice since she was daydreaming about Maya. Within minutes she noticed that her car was leaning on one side and stopped to investigate. When she looked at her tire she was devastated to see that a 10inch piece of medal had lodge into her tire and it was deflating fast. "Why!" Emily cried. "Why would you do this to me now!"

Desperate, Emily got back in her car and decided that she wasn't going to stop. Soon she was riding on the rim and sparks were flying. Realizing the dangers of what see was doing, she pulled over again and banged her had on the steering wheel in defeat.


	2. Chapter 2

Emily was devastated. She wanted to see Maya at that instant. Gaining a bit a hope, she jumped out of her car.

She looked in her trunk to see if there was a spare tire even though she knew nothing would be there. She knew that calling her mom was not an option. She thought about calling a tow truck put she knew that she didn't bring enough money. Plus she wanted to spend the money that she did have during her time with Maya. Then she thought about calling Hannah to help her but she knew that that would take at least 2 hours and she just couldn't wait that much longer to see Maya.

She thought. She looked for the nearest street sign and decided to use google maps on her phone to look at the distance to Maya's camp on her cell phone. I was 3.7 miles away. Immediately, Emily grabbed her keys and bag from the car, shut the door and sprinted to rescue her girlfriend. It was 9:30pm and Emily was determined to get there before 10pm. Emily ran as fast as she could without stopping. Being athletic definitely came in handy. She ran across streets without out looking and was nearly hit by a van as she rushed a across a two way street. Without even a pause or a glance back Emily kept running and reached her destination at 9: 59pm. Panting, she stopped at the front gate and briskly walked toward the back where she would meet Maya wiping the sweat off her face. As she approached the back, she pulled out her phone to call Maya but was surprised that she was already standing outside waiting for her at the opposite end of the camp.

Emily couldn't help but notice how gorgeous she looked. All she could do was smile. She screamed Maya's name and immediately darted toward her direction.

"Emily!" Maya screamed

They both ran with excitement and eagarness toward each other. As Emily ran, she wasn't watching where she was going as her eyes were fixated on Maya. As she sprinted, her foot got caught in a root of a tree and she fell in the dirt, flat on her face.

"Emily! Emily! Oh my god!" Maya change her jog to a run. "Emily, are you ok?"

Before Maya could pull up the root that her girlfriends foot was stuck under, Emily grabbed Maya and pulled her in for a kiss. Instantly, the pain from Emilys fall rushed away as if the kiss was a miracle medical doctor. Passionately, Maya lean closer against Emily as Emily wrapped her hands around her back. Maya felt her body melt in Emilys arm as their bodies touched. Emily could smell Maya sweet intoxicating skin and put her fingers through her hair. Releasing lips to breath, Emily untangled her foot without taking her eyes off her girlfriend.

"I've missed you so much" Maya said brushing Emily's cheek, rubbing some of the dirt off. Both Emily and Maya were sitting comfortably on the ground and Maya was sitting in Emily's lap. "Why are you so sweaty? The back of your shirt is all wet."

"Well…" Emily thought for a second to decide whether or not she was going to tell Maya about her flat tire. She knew that Maya would be very concerned and she didn't want her to worry. But then she realized that it would be pointless to make up a story because Maya would eventually find out anyways.

"Right before I got here, I got a flat tire. So I ran over here since I couldn't drive" Emily said.

"Are freaking serious? Aww I'm so sorry. Why didn't you tell me? I could have met you half way or at your car."

"I wasn't thinking straight. All I wanted to do was see you ASAP" Emily said.

"Emily that's so dangerous! Next time you need to…"

Before Maya could finish, Emily cut her off with a kiss on her luscious lips. Maya intensified the kiss and didn't care that Emily was covered in dirt and wet from sweat. Maya kissed her deeply and slowly as their tongues softly and gently wrestled. Maya then felt Emily shiver and released her lips to ask what was wrong.

"Are you cold?" Maya asked.

"Yeah a little bit" Emily said

"Well, here take off this wet shirt" Maya insisted as she reached for the bottom of Emily's shirt to pull it over her head. "I'll get you another one from my room. Wait here."

But before Maya could get up, Emily grabbed her girlfriends hand and pulled her in for another passionate kiss. Soon, Maya's shirt was off as well. Maya gently pushed Emily into the grass so that she was lying down. As Maya was on top of her Emily caressed Maya's so skin. Emily reached back and unhooked Maya's pink bra. Emily then smoothly messages her girlfriends breast as they kiss. Maya let out a soft moan into Emily's mouth.

"Ouch!" Emily yells

"Whats wrong? Am I hurting you?" ask Maya looking scared

"Something's stinging me!" Maya looks at Emily's arms and notice that there are ants all over her.

"Ants!" Maya screams.

"Ahhh! Get them off!" Emily yells as she panics, jumping up of the ground and running in circles in a fright. "Hurry!"

Maya quickly grabs her shirt and starts brushing the ants off Emily's arms and back. As she getting the ants off her girlfriend, Emily notice that there are ants on Maya too.

"They're on you too!" Emily says quickly as she starts rubbing the ants off.

After their panic with the ants Emily and Maya look at each other and the eyes and bust out laughing.

"Damn Em, first your car, then you fall, and now ants." Maya chuckles "Today is just not your day"

"Today's actually one of the best days I've had in a super long time" Emily says with a huge smile.

"Oh really" Maya says with a smirk, flirting with Emily with her eyes. "And why is that?"

"Because I'm with you. You make everything better"

"Hmmmm, I guess it's a gift. Maybe I should go to med school since I have this natural ability to make things better" Maya jokes

Emily laughs as they put back on their shirts and brush of the grass and dirt.

"Ok, let me go get you some clothes" Maya says. "Wait here and I'll be right back." Maya runs back to the facility, and Emily pulls out her phone. It was 11:00pm.

While waiting for Maya to come back, Emily ponders what they would do now that her car wasn't working. At first she was planning to take Maya atop of Mt. Bonnell, a mountain with a beautiful view of the city that she read was breathtaking on a travel vacation website. Then she was planning to take her swimming, hoping that it would turn to skinny dipping at Lake Beppo and finally stopping to get late night dessert at Amy's 24hr ice cream and bakery shop. But, now that she didn't have a car, that was out of the question.

All of a sudden, Emily heard nearby footsteps that immediately pulled her from her thoughts. She quickly turned to hide behind the tree to see who was coming. Peaking from behind the tree she could see a tall muscular man with red hair who was about 3 inches taller than her. He looked as if he was a body guard and he pulled out a flash light and pointed it directly in Emily's face.

"What are you doing back here?" he said angrily, quickly walking toward her.

Emily, completely terrified, backed from the tree and ran toward the entrance of the camp. But, within seconds, she was caught by the guy. He grabbed her by the shirt and yanked her backwards causing her to fall backwards.

"Your ass ain't getting away that easily!" he yelled.


	3. Chapter 3

Wow, I didn't know that there were already so may Emily/Maya stories! Lol Oh well, here's another chapter…

Unexpectedly, the red headed guy busts into a laugh. "Emily you should have seen the look on your face!" he says laughing hysterically. He grabs a dumbfounded looking Emily by the wrist and helps lift her up off the ground.

"How do you know my name? Who are you?" Emily asks taking defense.

"My name's Cody" he says still laughing as he reaches out to shake her hand.

Emily reluctantly brings her hand to his for a handshake as she slowly remembers that Cody is Maya's friend that she met in juvie.

"I hope I didn't hurt you" he says with a big smile.

Relieved and calmed down, Emily smiles back and tells him that she's alright.

"So you're the Emily that I've heard so much about. Maya said that you were drop dead gorgeous but that's an understatement" he says bluntly while Emily smiles shyly.

"Maya told me you were here and about your car tire a few seconds ago. So I decided to come met you before she came back out" he said.

"Well that was one hell of a first meeting" Emily smiles.

"Yeah, I always try to make the best first impression as possible" he jokes. "But about your car, I have a friend who works at this autoshop up the road. I can get him to give you a really good price on a new tire."

"Is it open this late?" Emily asks

"Probably not but I'm pretty sure he's still there doing inventory and tidying up before he leaves for the night. Let me give him a call really quick" Cody says reaching for his cell phone.

As Cody chats with his friend, Maya approaches with a fresh set of clothes for Emily. Emily grabs them and quickly changes behind the tree and as Cody finishes up his call.

"Yep he's still there Emily. We'll have you a new tire in no time. He said to hurry up though because he's about to leave soon."

"Alright, well let's get this show on the road" Maya says excitedly, grabbing Emily's empty hand since she was carrying her old clothes in the other. "Why do you have that humongous smile on your face Cody? Were you nice to my Emily when you came out here?"

The three talk about Codys 'friendly' introduction as they walk away from the camp. Emily learns that Cody runs track, which explains why he was able to catch up to her so fast. She also learns that he was a prankster whose been in trouble numerous times with his teaches and principles, from Drewcomb (a small town about 25 minutes from Rosewood), and he was on his way to a party that he had heard about from a fellow member of the juvie. Simultaneously, Emily noticed that he was an actual genuine person who just loved thrills and loves to have fun.

After walking for about 15 minutes, they cross an IHOP, Chevron gas station, and a HEB grocery store before finally reaching their destination. The crossed the dimly lit parking lot and Cody knock on the door.

"We're closed for the night. We'll be open tomorrow and eight!" screamed a low pitch voice from somewhere inside the shop.

"Devin it's me, open the door bro!" Cody yelled. And at that Emily and Maya heard the latch on the door and watch it open as a very tanned, blacked haired fellow exit the door. His hair is shoulder length and is about the same height as Maya with blue eyes.

"Oh hey man, whats up!" Devin said giving Cody one of those manly hugs. "About time you got here, come on in, I'm almost done and about to leave. And who are you two?" Devin says smiling.

Cody introduces everyone and explains that it Emily's car that needs a new tire. Devin asks her what kind of car she has in order to make sure that he has the right size to give her. Emily tells him what car she drove and he goes to the back to get the tire. To Emily's gratitude, he sells it to her for an extremely low price and asks them if they needed a ride to her car.

"Sure, if you don't mind" Emily says happily

"Nope, I don't mind at all" he says. "Let me lockup the store and we can head to the back to my truck." Devin makes sure that all the doors are locked and the all head back and get in his SUV. Devin and Cody sit in the front and Maya and Emily sit in the back after they get the tire in truck.

As they drive off, Devin and Cody talk about the party that he was about to go to and Maya and Emily have a conversation of their own.

"Your friend is so nice" Emily says

"Oh my gosh, I know, he's one of the reasons I'm not going crazy over there at that place. Actually, most of the people there are pretty cool. It's just the strict, heartless councilors, the disgusting food, and the mattresses that feel like rocks that makes it so bad."

"I can only imagine" Emily says sadly feeling sorry for her girlfriend.

"Emily, it's not your fault" Maya says softly grabbing Emily's chin noticing her sad eyes. "After next week, just two more months and I'll be right back in Rosewood…with you."

Emily smiles, leans in, and kisses Maya.

"Oh yeah! They're getting busy back there! It's getting hot in here!" Cody laughs as he looks back at them. Devin looks in his rearview mirror with fascination.

"You better keep your eyes on the road Devin" Maya says as they all laugh. "I defiantly don't want to get into a wreck."

"No worries, I'm good at multi-tasking" Devin says jokenly.

"There's my car" Emily says.

"Cool, do you have a jack in your truck so we can lift the car and put the tire on?" Cody asked

"Yep it should be in the back" says Emily.

They all hop out of the car. Cody grabs the tire while Emily unlocks her car and grabs the jack the lift the car. Devin grabs the jack from Emily and sets it down on the ground and start working on the car. Within minutes, the car is fixed.

"Well ladies, looks like we're all done here. It was a pleasure meeting you guys" Devins says as he shakes their hands and hops back in his car.

Cody, grabs Maya and Emily and brings them in for a group huge. "Make sure you keep Maya safe" he says the Emily.

"I will" Emily says as they release form the huge. At that, Devin and Cody drove off while Maya and Emily get into the car.

As soon as Emily and Maya are settled and alone in the car, the share I deep long loving kiss before Emily can even put the key in the ignition.


	4. Chapter 4

As Maya and Emily continued to kiss in the car, Maya eventually moved from the passenger seat to the driver's seat on top of Emily, straddling her without releasing the kiss. As Maya moved on top of her, Emily reached under the seat in order to pull the lever that allowed the seat to slide back. Maya started to slowing grind against her girlfriend making them both yearning more. Emily's clinched her hands around Maya's waist as Maya wrapped her arms around Emily's neck. Emily rubs her hands up and down Maya's back, her soft skin causing Emily to go crazy.

HOOOONK!

Startled, Maya jerks back, to Emily's disappointment, as she realizes that her butt accidentally honked the horn of Emily's car. Laughing, Maya gets back into the passenger seat, making Emily laugh as well. Emily decides to take this opportunity to turn on the car. Emily then watches Maya adjust the air conditioning and the radio. As she stares at her trying to find a good song on the radio, she flashes back to the day Paige kissed her. I really have to tell her about Paige she thought to herself. She was contemplating on when would be the right time to tell her. Emily felt that if she waited to tell her later on, then it would hurt their relationship even more. Plus, she didn't even know if Maya would be upset because it was Paige who kissed her and not the other way around. But, at the same time, Emily knew that she didn't pull back from the kiss. She felt guilty because she sort of just let it happen.

"What's wrong Em?" Maya asked noticing Emily staring.

"Nothing." Emily smiled. "You're just so beautiful"

"You're so sweet, Emily." Maya said leaning over to kiss her on the cheek.

Emily smiles, turning red. Maya giggles at the reaction of her girlfriend.

"I want to show you something." Emily says

"What?" Maya asks

"It's a surprise and actually right up the road. Ready to go?"

"Of course I am." Maya says as she puts her hand on Emily's thigh

Emily puts the car in drives and steps on the gas. As they drive off Emily has a hard time driving since it was so hard to keep her eyes on the road. She is ecstatic to be with Maya and had to pinch herself just to make sure she wasn't in a dream.

They soon reach the steep road that leads up to Mt. Bonnell. Emily finally takes her eyes off her girlfriend in order to better concentrate on staying on the dark narrow road. When they reach the top, Emily parks the car.

"We're here." Emily says. "Wait there."

Emily gets out of the car, quickly walks over to the passenger side, opens the door for Maya, and extends her arm so that Maya could grab her hand. She grabs Emily's hand and steps out of the car.

"You're such a romantic." Maya smiles gently. Emily wanted to show Maya that she truly cared for her and wanted to make sure that everything was perfect since their time was limited.

Emily helps her out the car and shuts the door. Emily stands behind Maya, and puts her arms around her waist while placing a kiss on Maya's neck.

"Let's go to the edge" Emily whispers in her girlfriend's ear.

Maya puts her hands on top of Emily's as the walk forward toward the edge of the cliff. As they reach the edge, Maya lets out a loud gasp at the site she sees.

"This is breathtaking! I had no idea this city was so amazing!" Maya says breathlessly.

Emily sits down on one of the huge rocks on the edge of the cliff and pulls Maya on her lap. They both look at the incredible scene in a comfortable silence, absorbing how beautiful the site was. The moon set a romantic ambiance as it dimly lit up the night's starry sky. Under the cliff was a spectacular view of city's skyline and country side.

"Maya." Emily whispers breaking the silence.

"Yes?" Maya asks.

"I love you." Emily says shyly looking in Maya's eyes. It was the first time that Emily ever told Maya she loved her. She truly meant with she said as she nervously waited for Maya to respond. She couldn't imagine where she would be in her life or what she'd do if she didn't have Maya.

Maya grins and says "I love you too, Emily."

Emily leans in and leaves a long lingering kiss Maya on her soft luscious lips.

"I just want you to know that I will never try to do anything to ever hurt you Maya. You don't know how much you mean to me." Emily says as Maya smiles. "I wish that we could have this moment for life. I don't want to go back to Rosewood and leave you here."

"I can't wait to leave that place. But, don't worry, I'll be back in Rosewood before you know it," Maya says. "Let's just focus on this moment that we have with each other right now." Maya smoothly compresses her lips to Emily's feeling her tongue enter her mouth for a deeper kiss.

Now that Maya knew how Emily felt about her, she felt that it would be a decent time to tell her about Paige even though it was one of the last things she wanted to do. She grabbed Maya's hand as she mustered up the courage to tell her girlfriend the secret that had been bothering her for some time now.

"Maya….I..I have to tell you something important to tell you." Emily says looking serious.

Looking concerned, Maya says "Emily, you can tell me anything. What's going on?"

"Do you remember that girl Paige from our high school?"

"Yeah, the one that's on the swim team with you?" Maya asks.

"Yeah her. Well…I found out that she's gay too" Emily says

"Oh really? Oh wow I would have never guessed that! She seems cool. I'm glad Rosewood is slowly moving away from the conservative side. How do you know? Did she tell you?" Maya asks

"No." Emily breaths deeply. "I know that she's gay because she kissed me."

Maya suddenly freezes and her eyes widen. "She kissed you? What the hell! Everybody at that school knows that we're together." Maya says angrily. "Why would she do that shit?"

Maya sits in silence for a few minutes thinking about what Emily just told her.

"Well what did you do? Did you pull away?" Maya asks hopefully looking in Emily's brown eyes.

Emily looks down at the ground. "No, I didn't immediately pull away. I kind of just sat there shocked."

Maya lets go of Emily's hand and gets out her lap.

"I didn't lead her on or anything Maya. I didn't even know she was gay until we kissed. She had been so mean to me before this happened. She would make to dumb little gay comments and she really gave me a hard time." Emily says trying to unsure that Maya understood where she was coming from. "And then all of a sudden, she shows up to my house in the middle of the night to tell me she was sorry. I thought it was just a truce. I thought it was just her way of ending her beef with me."

Maya still just sits there speechless, as a single tear full down her cheek.

"Please to me babe, what are you thinking?" Emily says desperately.

"Why is this the first time that I'm hearing any of this?" Maya asks. "Why did you feel it wasn't necessary for you to tell me that someone was hurting you and treating you like that?"

"I just didn't want you to worry M…"

"You know that you can tell me anything Emily. I want to be there for you when you need me or in trouble. Would you have even told me if you guys didn'y kiss? Maya asks angrily.

"I don't know, I…"

"And do you still talk to her?" Maya questions.

"Yeah, it's not like I hate her or anything. She's actually a really nice person who's having problems with her identity and her dad."

"But she likes you Emily. She knew that you were in a relationship and she still kissed you. I'm not telling you to hate her." Maya says with frustration. "But why would you still associate with someone who intentionally tried to jeopardize our relationship."

"Maya I can't just cut her out of my life like that."

"Yes you can!" Maya yells "She has a crush on you and it not just going to simply go away. You're going to let her ruin what we have."

"No I won't Maya! I won't ever let anything ruin us. I don't just love you Maya. I am _in love _with you and nothing will ever change that" Emily says standing to grab Maya's hand to only have it yanked away.

"Emily, you're going to see her every single day. And every single day you see her, you won't be able to see me. Don't you see how easy it is for her to manipulate you? Paige is very competitive and you know this. I have a feeling that she is not going to stop trying to put the charm on you."

Maya walks back to the car and her girlfriend quickly follows. Emily grabs her by the waist but Maya doesn't stop until she sits in the car and slams the door. Emily walks over to the driver side and sits in the car. With tears in her eyes she says "Maya, do you know how hard it would be to stop talking to her since we're both on the swim team?"

Maya just sits there defeated at the situation. She was upset because she felt that Emily didn't understand how it was very possible that Paige could do some serious damage to their relationship. She felt that if Emily continued to talk to Paige, then Emily would grow tired of her and eventually move on. She didn't understand why Emily couldn't just stop talking to Paige in order to save the relationship.

"Can you just take me back to the camp?" Maya says with tears in her eyes.

"But Maya, no I'm sor…."

"Just take me back" Maya says coldly.

Emily just sits there not wanting to start the car.

"I said take me back, Emily!" Maya screams

Emily hesitantly, puts the key in the ignition and starts the car. Crying, Emily drives back down the cliff as Maya avoids looking at her as she stares out the window.

"Paige needs help, Maya. She's really struggling with her dad and the fact that she's gay. I just really want to help her." Emily manages to say.

"Ok Emily, go help her. You can do whatever the hell you want." Maya says emotionlessly. "Who am I to stop you?"

"Please don't be like this Maya, I love you." Emily cries as she parks her car in front of Maya's camp.

Maya's says nothing and gets out of the car. Emily jumps out of the car as well, running after Maya. She grasps Maya by the arm and turns her to face her. Maya looks in Emily's eyes for the first time since they left the cliff. Emily had never seen Maya look so sad and unhappy. Maya burst into tears, turns around with water flowing down her face and walks back toward the facility.

"Please, please Maya, just stop." Emily pleads "Don't do this! I'm so sorry! There's no way Paige could never destroy what we have. I promise Maya!

But Maya wasn't having it. She continuous to cry and quickly walks toward her bunk. Without looking back she reaches the building, opens the door and closes the door behind her.

Defeated, Emily walks back to her car. She sits there sobbing for about 15 minutes hoping that Maya comes back out. When she doesn't, Emily turns on the car and makes the excoriating ride back to Rosewood. Emily felt like her world was collapsing. She had drove for about 2 and a half hours and still hadn't made back to Rosewood since it was so hard to see the road through her tears. Why is everything going so wrong Emily thought. All she wanted to do was help someone who needed help just as she needed help before she met Maya.

When she reaches her house, she sits there in her car in misery thinking about how the night had gone. After, clearing up her eyes, she reaches for her phone and dials Paige's number.


	5. Chapter 5

The phone starts to ring but Emily quickly comes to her senses and hangs up before Paige has a chance to answer. What am I doing, Emily thinks to herself. For some reason the first person she thinks to call is Paige. She needed someone to comfort her and talk to about what happen but realizes that Paige may not be the best person to call right now considering the circumstances that she was in with Maya. Emily didn't want to make Maya more upset than she already was. Plus it was past 3am, so she just decides to go to her room and hopes that she feels better in the morning.

The next morning arrives and Emily wakes up not feeling much better than she did before she went to sleep. As soon as she gets out of bed she calls Maya a few times but the calls were unsuccessful since she didn't answer. Wanting to get her mind off of things, Emily decides to go take a swim at the Rosewood swim facility. Swimming always helped her cope with things and it allowed her to get her head straight. She changes into her swimsuit, grabs an apple for breakfast, and heads out the door.

As she walks to her car, she sees Toby sitting on his porch adjusting his shoes.

"Hey, Emily!" he says with a smile.

Emily forces a smile and waves back. She's not really up for talking to him but Toby gets up and walks over to her drive way.

"How are you? I haven't seen you in a while" he says with a huge smile.

"I'm fine, I've just been really busy lately. How about you? How are things going?"

"Lately things have actually been pretty great. I fixed my motorcycle so I was about to take it for a spin."

"Finally, you've been working on that think for an extra-long time" she says.

"Is there something wrong Emily, you don't seem like your normal self today." Toby said noticing that Emily seemed a little down.

"It's nothing, I'm just a little stressed right now"

"Is your mom still giving you a hard time?"

"No…Well yeah she is but I can tolerate that…..It's just that…me and Maya are going through a rough patch right now and I feel like it's kind of my fault." She says.

"I'm sure that in the end you and Maya can work things out. I don't know Maya really well but she seems really patient and open-minded. I imagine that it's really tough for you guys right now because she's so far away. Long distance relationships can be pretty hard to handle." Toby reinsures her. "Just remember that communication is the key when it comes to relationships. I sure everything is going to be alright with you two."

Emily smiles as she feels better and gives Toby a hug. "Thanks Toby." She was really grateful to have him as a friend, especially after their talk.

"So where are you off to anyways?" Emily asks

"I'm actually going to Spencer's house to study" he says looking extremely happy. "Which does she like better, coffee or hot chocolate?"

"Definitely coffee with lots of sugar" Emily laughs. "She'd never go to sleep if she didn't have to."

"Thanks" Toby says as he walks to his motor-cycle. "Bye, Emily"

"Bye" she says with a grin.

Emily hops in her car feeling a little better. She thinks about what Toby says. "Communication is the key." When she reaches the pool facility, she parks her car, grabs her towel and heads straight for the pool. She swims a couple of laps and lets the water relax her mind. As Emily was floating on her back, she hears her phone ring and quickly gets out of the pool. Could it be Maya she says to herself. When she reaches her phone she sees that its Hanna calling. Knowing that Hanna was calling to check how the trip so see Maya went, she decides to ignore the phone call and talk to Hanna after she was done swimming. She really didn't feel like explaining everything at that moment.

She walks back toward the pool but before she could get in, she heard her phone ring again. This time it was Paige. Hesitantly, she decides to answer the phone. "Paige?"

"Hey, Emily. What are you up too?"

"Nothing I'm just taking a swim at the Rosewood pool."

"Oh ok…would you mind if I join you? I want to talk to you about something"

"Uh, no I don't mind" Emily says

"Great, I'll be there soon."

Emily was a bit skeptical telling Paige to come over to the pool. But she didn't want to seem rude and it seemed like she needed to talk about something. She wanted to talk to Paige but at the same time, she partially blamed her for the problems in her relationship with Maya. She wasn't even sure if she was still in a relationship. Part of her was angry with Paige but the other part sympathized with Paige because she was once in her shoes. She knew that it was hard being in the closet and wanted her to know that she was there the help.

"Hey Emily."

"Woah, you got here really fast." She said

"I really needed to get out of the house" Paige said with frustration on her face.

"What's wrong" Emily asks while she takes a seat next to Paige with their feet dangling in the water.

"I really want to tell my parents that I' gay. But it's just so hard Emily." Tears come to Paiges eyes. "I'm so scared. I don't want them to hate me. I know they will be so disappointed and ashamed of me and I don't think I can take it."

Emily puts her hand around Paige's shoulders. "Your parents could never hate you Paige. You are their daughter and they will always love you. You don't have to rush to tell them. Just take your time and tell them whenever you feel that you are ready. You don't have to tell them now"

"But I will eventually."

"Don't stress about it now. Whenever that day comes, you'll know that it's the right time. It will be hard at first but just remember that they could never stop loving you and you'll always have me if you need help or anything."

Paige reaches over and grabs Emily's hand. Emily desperately wants to pull her hand away but she felt that Paige needed the comfort since she was crying and that it would be awkward if she did pull away. She wanted to tell Paige about how Maya felt about her and she also wanted to know if Paige really had a crush on her. She wasn't sure if the kiss was just a way to tell her that she was gay or if it was a way to tell her that she liked her.

"Let's swim" Emily says as she jumps in the water. "You'll feel better."

After a couple of hours of swimming and talking they take a break from swimming. Paige swims over to Emily's lane after they share a laugh about their swim coach.

"Thanks for making me feel better Emily" Paige says coming extremely close.

"No problem"

"You….you know that I really like you right."

Emily's eyes widen. Paige leans over and presses her lips against Emily's. Emily immediately jerks back.

"Look Paige, I really do like you but there's still Maya. Just because she's not here right now doesn't mean we're not together."

"I know, I know Emily. I'm sorry. It's….it's just that I can't help myself when I'm around you. You are so beautiful inside and out."

"I have to go." Emily grabs her stuff and walks toward her car.

"Wait Emily, I'm sorry…."

"I really have to go Paige."

Emily gets into her car furious at her own self. Why did I get myself into this situation she thinks to herself. She missed Maya and really wanted to be with her. But at the same time she liked Paige too and didn't want to hurt her. Her phone started ringing and she sees that it's Paige. She ignores it.

When she gets home, she takes a shower and hears here phone ring again. This time she doesn't recognize the number at first but then remembers that its Cody's number and she knows that it's Maya calling her from his phone. Not knowing what to do she ignores the phone call was well. A single tear flows from her eye and she picks up her phone to call a friend the she could always count on. Hanna.


	6. Chapter 6

"Emily, are you ok?" Hanna immediately asks as soon as she answers the phone, making Emily wonder how she knew that something was wrong.

"I need to talk to you about something that's very important." Emily says

"Well why don't you come over to my house for dinner? My mom will be out late for work and we'll have the house to ourselves" Hanna says

"What time should I come?" Emily asks

"How's 7 sound?"

"That would be great. I'll see you then Hanna"

"Alright Em, bye."

7p.m. rolls around the corner fairly quickly. Emily walks up the steps to Hanna's front door and knocks.

"Coming!" Hanna yells

Hanna opens the door and Emily smells a delightful aroma coming from Hanna's kitchen.

"Did you order food from somewhere?" Emily asks following the smell.

"No, I'm cooking." Hanna says with a matter-of-fact tone.

"What? Since when do you know how to cook? Everything looks so delicious" Emily says in shock, lifting to top off one of the pots.

"Cooking is one of my hidden talents. Lately, I've decided that I should cook more often" Hanna says proudly. "The pasta should be ready in about 15 minutes."

"Good, I can't wait to eat." Emily grabbed a sit in the kitchen and Hanna sat across from her. Hanna could tell that her friend was anxious to talk but figured that she wasn't sure where to start. She knew that Emily was a little uneasy from the way she sat in her seat looking uncomfortable. Hanna then decides to break the ice about Maya by tell her about what happened earlier that morning.

"Did you know that Maya called me super early this morning at around 6am and asked me to check on you?" Hanna asked immediately.

Emily's eyes widened. "Really?" She asked feeling relieved that Maya cared enough to ensure that she was safe.

"Yeah. I went by your house earlier this morning and saw that your car was there. I didn't stop because I was running some errands for my mom. But why would she call me when she could have easily called you?" Hanna asked with concern.

Emily takes a deep breath and tells Hanna everything that happened on the trip to visit Maya.

"Oh my gosh! Emmmm! You told her you loved her on top of a mountain? That's so sweet!" Hanna says, not be able to hold herself back from squealing.

Emily pauses as she reminisces about how amazing that moment was. It just felt so….right. However, she continues and she tells her everything about Paige. She had no idea that Paige was gay and was crushing on her.

"No way, Paiges dad is like the most homophobic dude ever! And Paige has been ridiculously mean toward you."

"Yes, she was mean to me at first but I feel that she didn't know how to manage her situation. Her dad seems to be far more intolerant than my mom and I guess it was just her way of trying to "de-gay" herself. But she's change Han. She's different now. She trying to come to terms with herself and Maya doesn't understand that I'm only trying to help her."

"Well how does that make you feel? Are you angry with Maya?" Hanna asks

Emily takes another deep breath as she thinks about the question. "I'm not really angry with her. I just like... It really hurts because I feel like she doesn't trust me. I know for a fact that Maya would never hurt me on purpose. I believe that she is real with me 100% of the time and I'm positive that I can count on her with almost anything. But…I don't know if I can count on her to trust me. It's like she doesn't have enough confidence in me to know that I only want to stay faithful to her and her only. Why Han? Why doesn't she have faith in me?"

"Emily sometimes it takes people longer to gain full trust. It not something that happens automatically. She's just scared Em. She doesn't want to lose you. Think about how she may feel. She's miles away and she can't be with you. She has no control over what's happening here in Rosewood and I'm sure that she's frighten since she can't see you all the time." Hanna says

"If she's frightened about not being able to see me then why would she have me leave early when I came to visit her? When I told her about Paige, she didn't what anything to do with me?"

"Well…I don't know but maybe she just wasn't thinking rationally. I mean, when people get upset about something, they tend to shut down." Hanna says. Emily pauses as she tries to put herself in Maya's shoes. Hanna walks to the stove to turn it off. "Em, you really need to talk to Maya. You should tell her what you told me and let her know how you feel. You do want to still be with her right?"

"I don't know Hanna, this whole trust thing is really bothering me. We've been together for a while now and I really do love her. But, what's a relationship about trust?" Emily says

"Here." Hanna says place a plate of spaghetti with meat balls and garlic bread in front of her. "Let's eat. Whatever you decided to do Emily, I'm sure it will be the right decision. Just make sure you think about it long and hard."

Over the next few days Emily ponders about how she's going to move on with her relationship. She wished that she could go back in time and be with Maya atop of Mt. Bonnell all over again. She missed her since the moment she was in her car driving back to Rosewood. But at the same time, it was killing her to know that Maya didn't have the same confidence in their relationship as she did. Finally she decides to make a move and call Maya.

"Emily" Maya answered on the first ring. "I've missed you."

"Baby, I really miss you too." Emily says.

"Look, I'm sorry about last week. I feel horrible about it. I was wrong for shutting you out like that. I…I was just scared. I love you Emily and I was afraid that you would have feelings for Paige since I can't be there. I hate being here and not knowing what happening in Rosewood. I feel so out of the loop."

"Why don't you trust me Maya?" Emily asks

"I do trust you."

"No, it's apparent to me that you don't. If you had faith in me, you wouldn't have gotten upset when I told you about Paige."

"Oh so now it's my fault since you think I don't trust you." Maya says sarcastically.

"No its not all your fault. That's not what I'm saying"

"Emily, it's not that I don't trust you. It's that I know that so many things can happen while I'm away. I keep thinking about what would happen if I lose you." Maya says

"That sounds to me like you don't have trust. Maya if we don't both believe in our relationship then who else will. What's a relationship without trust? You should know that I would never do anything to intentionally hurt you. That's what I meant when I said that I love you. If you had hope in our relationship you wouldn't be worried about losing me."

"I'm not you Emily. I don't walk around 24/7 with my guard down. Trust is something that is earned."

"So I haven't done enough to earn your trust?" Emily asks angrily. "I've been there for you Maya!" She says.

"No you haven't Emily, not the entire time. Don't you remember when you flacked on me at the beginning? How do you think that made me feel?" Maya asks

"I did that because I was confused. You know that I was having problems coming to terms with myself." Emily says defensively. "Is that the reason you're scared?"

"Partially, that's some of the reason. There are oth.."

"Why are you dwelling on what happened such a long time ago?" Emily says angrily. "You need to let it go and get over it!"

"Last time I checked, that happened not too long ago! You can't tell me how to feel about a certain situation Emily. I feel the way I feel and it takes time to get over things!" Maya yelled.

"Ok, so basically you lied to me."

"What? What are you talking about?" Maya asks frustrated

"On the mountain. You told me that you loved me but if you did you would be over what happened at the beginning of our relationship."

"That doesn't mean that I don't.."

"Yes it does" Emily says cutting Maya off. "I can already tell that this won't work.

"You don't know what you're saying Emily."

"I do. I know what I'm saying and I know what you're saying. If you can't find aa way to get over the past, forgive me, and trust me then this relationship isn't going anywhere."

"Baby, just listen to me, I will.."

"No Maya, I'm done. You obviously have some built up resentment that I thought we both moved passed"

"But Emily, I love you! You're not even hearing me out. You're not even giving me a fucking chance to trust you."

"No, I Iove you but you obviously don't me and I won't allow myself to be in a relationship where it is not reciprocated. I'm done!"


	7. Chapter 7

Pissed and angry, Maya forcefully throws Cody's phone at the wall across the room with all her might once she realizes that Emily hung up the phone in her face. The phone smashed into the wall and hit the floor with pieces of plastic flying everywhere.

"Dude! What the fuck! That's my phone!" screams Cody.

Maya bursts into tears and buries her face into her hands.

"I'm sorry" she cries in a muffled voice. "I just hate it here!"

Maya walks to the girls bathroom to get away from Cody and anyone else who could see her cry. She just wanted to be alone for the moment. Maya looks into the mirror and sees a face that's defeated, overwhelmed, and hurt look right back at here. She balls up her fists and has the strong urge to punch and shatter the mirror in front of here. She bites here bottom lip and slowly decides that she's broken enough things today and relaxes here fists. Still crying, she grabs a number of paper towels and cries into them.

"Are you ok out there?" says a voice from one of the stalls.

Startled, Maya says "Oh y-yes, I'll be fine"

"I'll know what will make you feel better" the stranger says as she emerges from the stall. The girl is about 3 inches taller than Maya with straight blonde hair that is shoulder length. "I'm Sara, your name is Maya right?"

"Yeah" Maya staid with tears still coming down her cheeks.

"I hate seeing people cry, it makes me want to cry. Whats wrong? Miss your parents?"

"N-no j-just relationship drama?"

"Ah, the boyfriend back home uh?"

"Something like that" Maya says.

"Here take this" Sara says. Maya looks down and Sara hands her a blunt of weed that was just wrapped. "Staff never comes in this bathroom, we won't get caught." Maya grabs the blunt and stares at it as Sara lights it up. "What are you waiting for? Take a puff."

"I'm really not in the mood" Maya says quietly.

"C'mon, it always gets me out of a bad mood" Sara says trying to cheer Maya up.

"Thanks but I think I'm just going to go to bed early." Maya said as she wiped her tears away.

"Alright Maya, but you know where to find me if you ever need your daily fix" Sara says with a smile.

Maya walks out of the bathroom and sees Cody leaning his back against the wall right next to the girls bathroom door.

"I thought you would never come out of there" he says

"Here" Maya says. She takes here iPhone out of here pocket and gives it Cody after she takes out her sim card out. "You won't be able to make calls but when you get out, you'll have a good phone."

"No way, I can't take this, the phone you broke was just an old flip phone, it wasn't even a smart phone. I can't" he said.

"No just take it. Cody you've been so helpful here. You're a good friend. You're the only good thing that's come from this whole experience." She shoved the phone into his pocket and gave him a huge. "I'm going to my bed, I'll just explain everything to you tomorrow." At that, she walked to her room as tears began to re-emerge from her eyes.

….

Emily lays in bed crying looking at the picture of her and Maya on the night stand while holding her red scarf. Emily was extremely sad about the situation and figured that it was no time but the present to try and get over Maya. She laid the picture face down on her night stand and walked to her bedroom to wash her face. Still sniffing, she texts Paige and asks her if she was free. Paige immediately texted back and says sure and that she would come over in 15 minutes. Emily changed clothes and tries the stop the tears from flowing from her eyes.

Paige rings the door bell and Pam lets her in.

"Hey Paige, Emily's upstairs. Go right on up" Pam says.

Emily hears a knock on her door and looks over to see Paige let herself in.

"Whats wrong?" Paige asks looking concerned. "You look like you've been crying." Paige puts her arm around Emily and sits next to her on the bed.

"I just went crazy-psycho on Maya. I broke up with her and it's like I already regret it. But I don't want to be in a relationship with someone who doesn't feel the same way I feel about her." Emily explains to Paige everything that happened.

"C'mon lets go. I know exactly what you need to do" Paige says as she grabbed Emily's hand. Grab that scarf and anything else that belongs to Maya.

They head out the front door and into the Paige's car.

"Where are we going?" Emily asks as tears start to roll down her cheeks again

"To the Rosewood Nature Park" Paige says with a smile. "I swear it's going to make you feel better."

They arrive at the park and Paige leads Emily to an area of the park that's close to the lake. However, before reaching the lake, the stop at spot where you can make a camp fire.

"Here. Sit here and get comfy." Paige says. Paige directs Emily where to sit and she goes off to look for wood to burn for the camp fire. Emily looks the picture of her and Maya and reminisce about the their first movie date. She remembers how they held hands and how soft her hands felt. She thinks about how good Maya smelled and how nervous she was to be spending time with her. She then thinks about how she slowly leaned over and looked into those dark pretty eyes and leaned into that perfect kiss.

"I'm back Emily" Paige said, snapping Emily out of her thoughts. She had a large amount of fire wood that she picked from the woods and placed the wood making the fire wood for the camp fire. After everything was set up, took out a lighter and lite the wood to form a beautiful camp fire. The scene was very pretty with a huge lake in the background.

Paige sat next to Emily and put her hand on Emily's shoulder. "Look, so I know that you really loved Maya. She seemed like an ok chick. But you have to let her go if you honestly feel that she will never love you the way you love her. You deserved to be with someone who will never let you down Emily. You're a good person with a big heart and I hate to see you like this."

"I feel horrible Paige. I –I need to call her back. I really need to talk to her again." Emily pulled out her phone but Paige immediately grabbed it.

"Are you sure you want to do this Emily? You just said yourself that she doesn't love you"

"I have to" Emily said as she grabbed her phone back. "I at least want to talk to her one more time." Emily dialed Maya's number and Cody's number and there no answer on either phone. I went straight to voice mail.

"See, this is what happens when your love isn't real. They bail on you. She doesn't love you Emily. I'm really sorry. But, what I want to do is help you get over Maya. Do you trust me?"

Emily nods yes.

"Ok you're not going to want to do this but I swear you'll feel better. What you have to do is throw the scarf and the picture into the fire"

"What?! Paige no I can't do that"

"You think you can't but you actually can. Once you do it, it will be a huge relief. I'll help you."

Paige grabs the picture and holds it above the fire. "I'm not going to let it go until you tell me to" see says.

Emily takes a deep breath and a single tear falls down her cheek. "Ok….. let go."

Paige releases the picture and it falls into the fire, releasing flames and causing the fire to get a bit bigger.

"Now you have to do the scarf." Paige says

Emily stands over the fire and holds the scarf in both hands. She snuggles the scarf into her face and breaths in. Slowly she releases the scarf from her hands and slowly drops it in the fire.

"What are you guys doing?" Spencer yelled.

Startled, both Emily and Paige quickly turn around to see Spencer and Toby standing hand in hand looking at the fire.

"Whats that in the fire?" Spencer asks.

"Maya's stuff" Paige says quietly.

"What the hell is going on here? Why would you burn her stuff?"

"Just stay out of it" Paige says meanly. "Don't worry about it, Im just trying to help Emily"

Toby walks toward the fire, grabs a long stick and tries to get the scarf out of the fire."

"Stop!" Paige yells as she pushes him out of the way to stop him from messing with the fire.

"Hey! Don't push him!" Spencer yells grabbing Paiges arm.

"Don't touch me!" Paige screams back. Paige snatches her arm out of Spencers arm and pushes her too.

"Guys stop it Emily yells." But before she could do anything. Paige pushed Spencer again and this time made her fall on the ground. Meanwhile, Toby had managed to get the scarf out the fire before he saw that Spencer was on the ground. Spencer stood up as quickly as she fell and pinned Paige to the ground. While sitting on top of here Spencer punches her in the face and immediately makes her nose bleed.

"Stop it! Please!" Emily yelled.

Toby ran to pulled Spencer off of Paige and Emily grabbed Paige and got her off the ground.

Spencer then grabs Emily and tells her to get in her car.

"You're going home with me Emily." Spencer said.


	8. Chapter 8

"You didn't have to punch her Spencer. She was just trying to help me" Emily said from the back seat of Spencers car.

"Do you mind if I ask what she was helping you with?" Toby asked, turning to Emily from the passenger seat looking concerned.

"Well….She was helping me with Maya…I broke up with her…"

"What?!" Spencer was so shocked that she slammed on her breaks as she was about to run through the red light. Spencer, Emily and Toby all jerked violently forward. "I'm so sorry Em. I knew it was tough since she was so far away but I had no idea that you guys broke up!" Spencer said looking through the rearview mirror. "That still didn't give Paige a right to push Toby like that though."

As they were waiting for the light to turn green, Emily told them everything that happened.

"Look, Spencer and Toby, I appreciate you trying to help me and everything but Paige had my best interest at heart."

"How the hell did she convince you to burn Maya's stuff the same day you broke up with her? That's so irrational. And instead of texting Paige, why didn't you text, me of Toby or Aria or Hanna?!"

"I don't know" Emily said as she rested her head against the window. "It was the first thing I thought of I guess."

As they reached Emily's house, Spencer said, "Emily come spend the night at my place, we can wait for you to get your clothes."

"No, it's a school night, I can't. My mom won't let me. I'll be fine Spence."

"Ok Em, see you at school tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Ok, well be ready at 7:30 ok?"

"You don't have to pick me up Spencer"

"I'm taking you to school tomorrow and I'm not taking no for an answer" Spencer smiled. "And try not to do anything else crazy. Call me if something else happens or you need to talk"

Emily nods her head and walks up the stair to her house. She sits on the couch in the living room and turns on the TV to try and forget what just happen. After 20 minutes of constantly thinking about Maya, Emily decided to call Paige to see if she made it home safely and thank her for trying to make her feel better.

"Emily?"

"Paige, I'm so sorry about what happened! Are you ok? I had no Idea that Spencer and Toby were at the park on a date! It's all my fault! And what about your nose?"

"Emily it's not your fault. I always had the feeling the Spencer didn't really like me but wow is all I can say"

"She was just trying to protect me. I guess she's not over what happened in the pass about the whole swim incident."

"Whatever, I won't lose sleep over her….but its cool you have friends that will go out of their way to protect you"

Emily smiled on the other end of the phone for the first time all day.

"But Em, I'm about to get in the shower ok? I'll see you tomorrow ok?"

Emily hung up the phone, walked to her room and got ready for bed. She took an extra long cold shower. As she showered, she thought about how horrendous her day was. A few tears feel down as she showered but she soon wiped them away as she thought about the people in her life who she could count on. She was grateful that she had amazing friends like Toby, Spencer, Hanna, Aria, and Paige and she had hope that with their help, she would get over Maya in a matter of time.

Emily hopped into bed and got comfortable. She turned to her right and unconsciously reached for the photo of her and Maya that used to sit on her night stand. When she came up empty handed, she looked over and realized that she had burned the picture in the fire. She turned back over to her left and quietly cried herself to sleep.

…

The next morning, at 7:30, Spencer came just as she said she would. Emily looked out of her window and saw that she had bought Hanna and Aria with her. As she smiled from her window, she noticed that they all had bags and cups in their hands and were walking toward her front door. Pam had let them in the front door and she called Emily to come down stairs because her friends were there.

Emily walked down the stairs and saw that the girls had bought breakfast and coffee.

"Hey Em!" Hanna said. "Come sit so we can eat!"

Hanna handed Emily a plate of pancakes, eggs and bacon. "Eat up Emily, Breakfast is the most important meal of the day" Spencer said with a smile.

As the girls ate, they caught each other up on what was going on in their lives. Emily was happy that here friends were trying to take her mind off of things. They all laughed and giggled but eventually the conversation turned to Emily.

"Are you sure you did the right thing Em? When Maya was in Rosewood, you two were great together." Hanna said.

"Yeah" Emily said. "It's better for me to end it now than wait to get myself more hurt later on down the road."

"So that's it? Don't you want to talk to her again or one last time? This is all just happening so fast. I think you should call her." Hanna said looking sad.

"I tried to call her several times but she hasn't answered since we broke up." Emily said looking down.

"I guess I don't blame her, Give her a few days, I bet she'll answer eventually" Hanna said.

"I doubt it. Guys I think I really fucked up." Emily said with tears in her eyes. "I made it pretty clear on the phone that we were finished and I regret that I did that. There are times when I feel like I will never stop crying."

"Its ok, we are here for you" Hanna says as they all walk over to Emily and give her a group hug.

"So whats up with you and Paige? Hanna asks has they break from the hug

"Nothing, we are honestly just friends."

"I don't think she wants to just be your friend Emily" Spencer said. "She's probably happy that you broke up with Maya. Just don't fall for any of her tricks Em."

"Guys she's not playing any tricks, she's actually a good person" Emily said.

Hanna looked down at her watch. "It's 8:30 guys, were are gonna be so late."

"Seriously?!" Spencer yell. " Lets go!" and at that, the four girls grabbed their things and headed out the door.

….

During lunch time at school, Emily saw Paige sitting outside eating her lunch.

"Do you mind if I eat with you" Emily asked

"Of course not" Paige said, "Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah a little bit but not much."

"Well I bought something for you." Paige slides a box across the table that's wrapped with a bow on top. "It's sort of corny but I thought you might like it."

Emily opens the box and looks inside. She pulls out silver charm braclet with the letter E and F on it. "I have an aunt named Elizabeth Fitzgerald. She came to visit us last summer and told me to keep since she didn't want it. She said to give it my daughter or son and just make sure that their first and middle same started with an E and F." Paige laughed. "But instead I want to give it to you."

"Aww, thanks Paige. Its so pretty." Emily reached over to give Paige a huge.

"Emily…..It may not happen today or tomorrow but you'll be happy again. I know it"

At that, they continued to eat lunch and Emily could not help but notice that she felt a bit better than before she had sat down to eat.

…..

Thanks for reading everyone. I'll try to get the next chapter up soon.


	9. Chapter 9

It's been a week since the fire incident happened and Spencer was feeling guilty about punching Paige in face since Emily had convinced her that Paige was actually just trying to help her.

"Toby, I think I should apologize to her" Spencer said as they ate breakfast in his apartment.

"That's really big of you Spencer, but you don't have to feel guilty for what you did. You were just being protective." He said supportively.

"Yeah but I didn't even give her a chance to explain herself. I just went off on her."

"Well, there's nothing wrong with trying to mend a friendship. You should go for it" Toby said.

"Ha! Mend the friendship? Toby, we were never friends to begin with. She's more of just an associate." Spencer said. "I honestly never see myself being friends with her. But if she's Emily's friend, then I guess we should at least be friendly associates.

Toby chuckled at his girlfriend and passed her some pancakes. "So why don't you ever see yourself being her friend?" he asked

"There's just something about her that seems so sketchy. I feel like I just can't trust her. At this point, I feel like she would never harm Emily, but I can't say the same about her harming me or anyone else who stands in the way of her and Emily being friends." Spencer said.

"Yeah I get where you're coming from" Toby said. "Before Maya went to True North, I would always see her glaring at Maya whenever her and Emily were together. I think she was jealous or something."

"I think she has a major crush on Emily" Spencer said. "Which might be a good thing since her and Maya have apparently broken up."

"But don't you think it would be too soon for Emily to just jump into another relationship? I mean she just broke up with Maya only a week ago." Said Toby.

"Well I suppose so. I just want to see Emily happy though" Spencer said has they finished breakfast.

….

"Hey Emily!" Paige yelled walking down the hallway toward Emily's locker at school.

"Hey Paige, how are you?" Emily asked

"I'm good. Spencer actually just apologized for punching me in the face the other day. It was actually a sincere apology" Paige said happily.

"Oh wow, I had no clue she was going to do that." Emily said looking surprised. "It's good to know that you guys don't hate each other."

"I know right." Paige said. "But I actually have a question to ask you."

"Ok, ask away."

"Do you want to come with me to a comedy show tonight at 7? It's amateur night at the Rosewood Comedy Club."

"I don't know Paige, I have a lot of homework to catch up on."

"Aw come on Emily, you deserve a little bit of laugher considering what you've been through this past week."

"Well…I guess you're right. Sure, I'll go with you Paige."

"Awesome! I'll pick you up at 6! I gotta run to class, see you later!" Paige said has she went off to class.

….

"Maya, get up. You've been sleeping all day. You can't just stay coped up in here all day." Cody said as he pulled the cover off of Maya and dragged the pillow from underneath her head.

"You're coming with me" he said. Cody grabbed Maya's arm, pulled her out of bed and took her outside under the big oak tree where Sara was sitting.

Maya sat down in front of Sara and Cody sat next to her.

"I hear you've been down in the dumps." Sara said looking concerned. "Here take this"

She handed Maya a blunt of weed.

"I hate seeing you like this Maya" said Cody. "I think this will make you feel better."

"Guys, thank you so much for trying to make me feel better but I can't. I just can't."

"Why not? It's just on blunt. It won't harm anything." Cody said.

"It's just that the sooner I can prove that I'm clean, the sooner I can get out of this place." Maya said sadly.

"Is the reason you want to leave so bad because you want to try to fix things with your ex?

"Not exactly. This place just reminds me of everything I lost. I was here when Emily broke up with me over the phone. This place is just bad memories. Staying here is a constant reminder of what I lost and it really really hurts"

"Wow, that's deep. I understand your decision now." Cody said. "I promise I won't pressure you to smoke anymore." Cody reached over and gave Maya a huge.

"So you really loved this Emily girl uh?" Sara asked as she passed the blunt to Cody.

"I did. Although she didn't believe that I did. I loved her because she made me feel grounded. When things went wrong I knew that I could always go to her and she could always come to me. When she kissed me, my heart would skip beats. She was so compassionate and caring. Still to this day, I feel like if I asked her to do me a favor, she would still do it for me without hesitation."

"I'm sorry Maya. I didn't know you felt that way about her." Sara said. "Do you think she still feels the same way about you even though she broke up with you?"

"I don't anymore Sara. I thought I did. I wish I did. But I just don't know."

…..

"Oh my gosh Paige" Emily said with a smile. "Thank you so much for taking me here. It was so hilarious. I really needed that."

Paige and Emily got in to her car and drove to Emily's house. When they arrived at Emily's house. Paige parked the car so that they could finish their conversation.

"I'm glad you really liked it Emily. I haven't seen you smile like this in weeks."

"Paige, thanks so much for being there for me. With Maya gone, it's been really hard focusing on school, swim, and pretty much everything. You bring me out of this sucky reality." Emily said

"Ya know, reality doesn't have to suck Emily" Paige said grabbing Emily's hand. "You can be happy again." Paige said looking in Emily's eyes, tucking a strand of hair behind Emily's ear.

Emily looked into Paiges eyes. For a moment she was lost in Paiges eyes and could see how much Paige really cared for her. Emily missed the feeling of holding someone's hand and feeling as though she was always protected. She missed being able to go out and not have to worry about any of the other stressors in her life and knowing that there was a special person who truly cared for her.

"Paige, please, you can't do this to me" Emily said, releasing her hand.

Paige grabbed Emily's face and turned her back toward her.

"Emily, I care for you. I…I really really care for you Emily." Paige whispered.

"Paige…. I care you too" Emily said with tears in her eyes. "But I care for Maya too" she said with a tear falling from here eyes.

"Maybe…Maybe if I had met you first, met you before Maya…..then things would different." Emily said. "I'm…I'm sorry Paige."

With tears still in her eyes, Emily opened the door and slowly walked to her porch. When she got to her porch she looked back and saw tears coming down Paige's face as she drove away.


	10. Chapter 10

"Will Maya St. Germain, Mary Johnson, and Jack Fowler please report to the front office immediately ." Announcement was made over the intercom during lunch while everyone in the camp ate dinner.

"Why would they need you in the front office? Did you get in trouble earlier?" Cody asked Maya

"No, I don't think so. I have no clue what's going on." Maya said stuffing an apple in her mouth as she got up to walk to the office. "I'll catch up with you guys later."

When Maya reached the office, the other two residents who were called as well were already there.

"Welcome, have a seat Maya" said a camp counselor with a smile .

Maya sat down in the middle seat. The counselor was seating behind his desk and Maya and the other two students were seated in front of his desk facing him.

"Ladies and gentleman, I bought you in here today because me and the other staff members here at True North feel that you have made tremendous progress here. Due to your consistency and determination, you three have been schedule to be released early."

"Wait…is this a joke?" Maya asked looking surprised.

"Not at all. You all can be released as early as tomorrow. All we need from you is some signed paper work and a clean drug test. Your parents have already been notified about your dismissal. So now its time to go pack."

"This is so awesome! Thank you sir!" Maya said as her and the other 2 students rushed back to here rooms to pack up their things.

….

"Did you hear the news? Apparently Maya is coming back to Rosewood today." Hanna said to Emily.

"Yeah I know. I don't know how I feel about it yet though" Emily said.

"What do you mean?"

"Apart of me is really excited that she's coming. But the other part of me is nervous and scared because of the break-up. I'm afraid that she won't even talk to me when she sees me." Emily said.

"Well what do you want from Maya? Do you just want friendship or something more?"

"At this point, all I can hope for is friendship. I doubt she'd want that though."

"You still love her uh?" Hanna asked

"Of course I do" Emily said "I just don't know if it's reciprocated. "

"Well, I guess now is your chance to find out. Don't freak out but Maya's here." Hanna said.

"What!? Where!? How do I look?" Emily said in a panic.

"You look perfectly fine Emily. She's over there by her locker" Hanna pointed behind Emily.

"Oh my gosh! What should I do? Should I go over there and say hi?" Emily ask

"Yeah I guess you could. I don't see any harm in that"

Emily walked slowly over to Maya's locker wanting to say hi and welcome her back to Rosewood.

"Hey Maya." Emily said nervously. "How are you?"

Maya looked at Emily without saying a word. She then slammed her locker and started walking away.

"Maya…Maya please wait" Emily said walking after Maya. "I know you're mad but I just want to talk to you"

Maya stopped dead in her tracks and turned to Emily.

"Emily, I honestly do not want to talk to you. You hurt me and broke up with me and now you just expect everything to go back to normal. You expect us to start the conversation where we left off?" Maya said with a bit of anger.

"No but Maya please, I missed you. And there is no way that I can go to the same school as you and not talk to you. I just can't do that." Emily said putting a hand on Maya's shoulder.

Maya shrugged her shoulder and stepped back to get Emily's hand off her shoulder.

"Just go away Emily" Maya said as she continues to walk to class.

Emily, heart-broken, stood in the middle of the hall looking at Maya as she walked away.

…..

"It went horrible!" Emily said as she buried her face in her hands.

Emily, Aria, Spencer and Hanna all sat together at lunch.

"She hates me. She absolutely hates me!" Emily said

"She could never hate you Emily" Spencer said. "Just give her some time and space. She'll have to talk to you sooner or later."

Emily stared at her food, unable to eat.

"Emily it will be okay." Hanna said putting her arm around Emily's shoulder. "We're all here for you. How about we all catch a movie after school."

RING!

The bell rings for the next class period and all the girls head over to their separate classes.

Emily, looking sad, heads over to her Chemistry class and sits with her usual group.

When the tardy bell rang, the teacher walks in and makes an announcement.

Class, we will be assigning new groups this week. We also have a couple of transfer students, so some groups will have 4 people and some groups will have 3 people.

I have made a list of the new groups. I'll pass the list around so you can see who is in your group.

As the teacher lectures, Emily takes notes until the group list reaches her table. She searched for her name and saw that she was in group 6. Under group 6 read the names; Emily Fields, Maya St. Germain, and Paige McCullers.

"Crap!"


	11. Chapter 11

"Ok class, everyone please sit in your assigned groups and proceed to work on your chemistry group assignment number one." The teacher said as he wrote the assignment on the board.

Emily sat in her seat quietly panicking as Paige and Maya grabbed their things and headed over to Emily's lab station. Nervous, Emily knocked over a bottle of nitrobenzene all over on the table as soon as they sat next to her, spilling it all over herself and on Maya and Paige as well.

"Oh my gosh!" Maya scream

"I'm so sorry!" said Emily

"Quick! You three go to the girls locker room immediately wash your skin for at least 10 minutes! Nitrobenzene is highly toxic and it can burn through your skin! Go! Now! Now! Now!" yelled the teacher.

"Ugh I'm such an idiot" Emily thought to herself.

Emily, Paige, and Maya ran out the classroom and into the girls locker room.

Emily started to feel her skin burn as they ran looking for an open shower.

Paige ripped off her clothes and immediately hopped into the first open shower. There was only one free shower lift since all the other showers were occupied by the girls from the volleyball team.

"Go Maya! Take that one!" Emily yelled in pain as her skin was burning.

"No just go!" Maya said rubbing and scratching her skin. "You got way more on you than me"

"I'm not moving Maya." Emily said bouncing up and down trying to ignore the burning.

Realizing that Emily wasn't going to take the shower, Maya quickly took off her clothes, grab Emily's hand, and pulled her in the shower with her. As Emily entered the shower, she took off her clothes as well.

At first, the warm water hitting their skin made the burning worse. But then Maya turned the water to cold and their skin began to become slowly relieved.

Maya grabbed the soap and began lathering her skin to get the nitrobenzene off her skin. As they both stood naked under the running water, Maya had her back toward Emily and Emily stood directly behind her. Emily couldn't help but to notice how beautiful Maya's hair glistened in the water. She ran her eyes down Maya's entire body, staring at her wavy black her, her soft shoulder blades, her smooth back, her cute round butt, and her tan thighs. Emily could feel her heart racing and knees get weak as she stared at Maya washing off in the shower a few inches in front of her.

Maya turned around to face Emily to rinsed her back.

"Here, take the soap, I'm pretty much done" Maya says handing the soap to Emily.

For a brief 2 seconds the soap was in both Emily and Maya's hand and they both stared into each other's eyes. Although it was only a brief 2 seconds, Emily felt like such an intense rise of emotions and she could tell that Maya was feeling something too.

Maya, broke their stare and began walking out passed Emily. Emily continued to stare at Maya as she walked away until she was out of sight.

Paige and Maya finished at about the same time and headed back to the classroom.

Wanting to break the awkward silence, Maya decides to speak.

"Leave it to Emily to spill nitrobenzene on us." Maya says trying to lighten up the mood. "Once the burning stopped, it was actually kind of funny" Maya smiled.

"Yeah she can be such a goofball sometimes. I like that about her though" Paige said.

"Oh you and Emily are friends? I didn't know that." Maya said

"Well friends isn't really exactly what I'd call it." Paige said

"What do you mean?" Maya asked

"Well…..we kind of…dated. While you were away. We were pretty into each other."

"You are such a fucking liar." Maya said getting angry

"Nope, why would I lie about it." Paige said.

Maya's anger turned into sadness as she realized that Emily was seeing other people shortly after they had broken up. It was obvious to Maya to Emily had clearly gotten over her fairly quickly.


	12. Chapter 12

Emily didn't have a chance to make it back chemistry since she took an extra long time to take a shower. The entire time she was in the shower, she could only think about the moment that she had Maya. Although their moment lasted only a few seconds she knew that Maya still cared for her and it gave her hope that the relationship could get back to the way it was. While in the shower, Emily reminisced about the times she used to have with Maya and remembered how much she missed being with her. Emily decided that she would still give Maya her time, but she knew that eventually they would be back together if she worked hard enough for her.

Meanwhile the bell rang for chemistry to end and both Maya and Paige both packed their things to leave class. Page and Maya parted ways as Maya walked down the hallway, she was spotted by Hannah. Hannah walked over to Maya to speak to her.

"Hey Maya is been so long since I've seen you" Hannah said. "I just want you to know that even though you and Emily aren't official anymore, that doesn't mean that you and me can't be friends. I've always thought that you were really cool person."

"Thanks Hannah that really means a lot." Maya said. "We should still go shopping together one day, I love your fashion sense. "

"Awesome that sounds great" Hannah said. "But what's wrong Maya? You look so distraught."

Maya was still a bit upset about the news that she just heard from Paige but she didn't want to tell Hannah because she didn't want their friendship to be all about Emily.

"Nothing I'm fine. The craziest thing happened in class today though. Emily accidentally knocked nitrobenzene all over me and Paige. We pretty much missed the entire class."

"She spilled on you and page? Do you guys sit next to each other in Class or something?" Hannah asked confused. She found it weird that they would all sit next to each other given their past history.

"Well we've all been assigned to the same chemistry group, so we that I have to sit together" Maya said

"I'm sorry if that makes things awkward for you my Maya, that has to be tough." Said Hannah

"Well it's not the ideal situation but you gotta make the best of it right?"

"I'm glad you're okay with it. But if it counts for anything, Emily's a really great person, she's a great friend, and I know that she has many regrets about the past relationship."

"I know." Maya said. "But let's not make our friendship about Emily. You have to tell me where you got those shoes from!" Maya said grabbing Hannah by the arm and walking to the next class. Maya just wanted to forget about Emily for the time being.

Afterschool Hannah and Maya decided to catch up, go to lunch and shop at the mall

"Before we head downtown let's stop Spencer's house. I left my wallet there this weekend." Hannah said

"Sure no problem" Maya said

Hannah pulls up to Spencer's house in her car and both her and Maya head up the stairs. Hannah knocks on the door but no one answers. Spencer told Hannah that whatever she wants to come in just take the key from under the doormat. Hannah grabs the key and unlocks the door.

"Spencer!" Hannah yells

"Hannah?! Hey come upstairs, I'm up here in the room! "Spencer shouts from upstairs.

Maya and Hannah head up the stairs. Hannah opens up the door and realized Spencer is in the shower

"I'll be out in just a second." Spencer says

Hannah sits on Spencer's bed and Maya grabs a seat at Spencer's desk.

This is the first time then Maya has seen Spencer's room and she is fascinated at how cute it looks. As she's looking at Spencer's desk her eyes run across a red piece of cloth that seems to have been burned. Maya picks up the cloth and examines it. For some reason it looks very familiar to her.

Hannah looks over at Maya and realizes what she is holding in her hand. It just so happens to be the scar that Maya gave Emily. The same scarf that almost got burned in a fire due to Paige convincing Emily to burn it.

Hannah jumps off Spencer's bed and yanks the scarf from Maya hand.

However right before Hannah takes the scarf from Maya she realizes what was in her hand.

"Oh I wonder how this burnt thing got up here?" Hannah says trying to act like she doesn't know what it is.

"Hannah please don't play stupid with me. I thought we were better friends than that". Maya said. "Why is this burnt and why isn't even in Spencer's house?"

"Well Spencer needed to borrow a red scarf for this outfit that she wanted to wear on a date with Toby but it turns out... The fireworks display that happened on the date got out of control and a firecracker actually landed on Spencer's cloths. That's how it got burnt." Hannah explained hastily.

Maya decided to reluctantly believe Hannah for the moment.

"Come on let's go." Hannah said "Here's my wallet, right here on the dresser. "

While Maya and Hannah were at the mall, Emily still had Maya fresh on her mind. She decided to text her.

_Thanks for not letting me burn to death earlier today in the locker room :) Emily _

Moments later Emily received a text from Hannah explaining to her what happened at Spencer's house, what happened with the burnt scarf, and how she covered for her.

_If she asks about it scarf, stick with the story that I told her earlier. - Hannah_

Right after Hannahs text, Emily received a text back from Maya.

_No problem, I couldn't just let you stand there and burn. Can I stop by your house and talk to you for a few minutes? -Maya_

_Sure! - Emily _

Emily was thrilled that Maya was coming to her house but at the same time she was extremely nervous because she was scared that the only reason that she was coming was due to the fact that she found her burnt scarf at Spencers house.

"Crap." Emily said to herself


	13. Chapter 13

Emily rushed to the mirror to fix her hair and changed clothes. It will be the first time she'll be alone with Maya since her days at camp. Emily was extremely scared and shocked the Maya would even take the time to come talk to her at her house. She was almost sure that it had something to do about the burnt scarf that Maya found at Spencer's house. However she was still excited because spending time with Maya always made her heart flutter.

Emily sat in the living room on the couch gathering her thoughts on what to say to Maya about the scarf. She wanted to tell her the truth and be honest but at the same time she did not want to tell her news that would make my angry and more reluctant to forgive her for breaking up with her. Emily was undecided on what to say and it was killing her on the inside.

At around 9 o'clock Emily heard the doorbell ring and immediately her heart beat began to race. Emily was currently in the kitchen making cookies for Maya's visit.

She took off her apron and ran to the door. When she reached the doorknob she took a deep breath and slowly opened the door.

"Hi." Maya said

"Hi Maya" Emily said staring into Maya's eyes mesmerized.

"Well are you going to let me in?" Maya said after a few second's staring at each other.

"Oh! Yes yes please come in" Emily said breaking herself from her thoughts.

"Do you want some cookies? Chocolate chip and I just made them. They're nice and warm."

"Sure" maya said " I'll try some."

Emily bought over the plate of cookies and some glasses of milk. They both sat in the living room on the couch.

"I'm sorry if I made things really awkward in the shower today. I just didn't want your skin to burn and I wanted to make sure that you would be okay." Maya explained.

"Maya it wasn't awkward at all for me. If anything I thought maybe that you were slightly uncomfortable." Emily said

"No Emily….. The thing is, is that I felt like I was too comfortable." Maya said nervously.

"What do you mean." Emily asked

"Well when I was in the shower with you it almost felt ... right. Honestly I really wanted to turn around and kiss you in that shower…. And that really scares me." Maya said.

"Maya I felt the same way." Emily said as she grabs Maya's hand. "Your presence makes me feel so good inside when I see you and all I could think about is how much fun we've had in the past and how much fun that we can have in the future. Maya I know that I hurt you in the past and I have never gotten a chance to tell you how completely sorry I am for doing that to you. What I did to you, breaking up with you, it's one of the biggest mistakes that I've ever made in my life so far."

"But things happen for reason Emily. Maybe we weren't meant to be together"

"No my we belong together. I know..."

"I need you to be honest with me" Maya said cutting off Emily. " I need you to tell me what happened to the scarf that I gave you." Maya asked as tears started to fill in her eyes.

Although Emily knew that this question was going to come, her heart still dropped. Once she looked at Maya, she could tell them Maya was hurt. Emily had the feeling that Maya assumed that the scarf was burned because of her. Emily's mind was racing and going to crazy while figuring out what to tell her. Emily did not want to lie to her but she also did not want to say anything that will make Maya cry or angry with her. She hated seeing my hurt because it hurted Emily as well.

"Oh you mean the red scarf that you gave me?" Emily said with a shaky voice. "Well I actually let Spencer borrow the scarf because she needed it for the date that she was going on. I actually haven't seen the scarf since I gave it to her because every time I ask for it back, she comes up with some excuse. I think she may have done something to it by mistake and doesn't want to give it back to me just yet.

Upon hearing this Maya's saddened emotions started to decrease. And Maya realized that Emily was probably telling the truth.

"That really makes me feel better" Maya said. "For some reason I thought that you were the one who was behind the burning of that scarf." Maya reached over and gave Emily a hug.

Maya wrapped her arms tightly around Emily and Emily did the same. As they were hugging, Emily whispered into Maya's ear and said "I'm sorry for hurting you and I have never stopped loving you."

Maya gave Emily a kiss on the cheek and separated from the hug.

"I know things of rough now and it may take some time for you to trust me again, but Maya I will fight for you. You are one of the only things that I am so absolutely sure about. I don't expect us to get backin a relationship immediately but if you give me a chance I will prove to you that I love you."

...

A few days had passed and surprisingly Emily, Maya, and Paige seemed to be getting along well in their chemistry group. However Paige steadily became jealous over the fact that Emily and Maya got along so well in the group.

"So guys, when do you want to get together and meet after school in order to finish our second chemistry project?" Page asked.

"Well I'll actually be free today right after swim practice." Emily said

"Yeah I'll be free to right after Jazz practice." Maya announced.

"Okay then, it's settled let's meet to do the project today after practice."

...

Class was over and Emily and Paige headed over to swim practice as Maya headed to the jazz band practice. Practice went well for both Emily and Paige and both decided to stay behind to get a few extra practice rounds when swim practice ended early. Emily and Paige were swimming in the pool, Maya arrived at the pool jazz practice. Maya sat in the bleachers waitinig for them to finish. Unaware that Maya was in the swimming gym ,Emily swim over to Paige to tell her good job at swim practice today.

"A great job Paige"! Emily said "But let's get dressed and head over to meet Maya to finish up the project."

"Wait." Page said as she grabbed Emily's wrist. "You did a really good job too." Paige grab a strand of Emilys wet hair and placed it behind her ear. Before Emily could say or do anything, Paige leaned over and gave Emily a kiss on the lips.

"What are you doing?" Emily said backing away from Paige.

All of a sudden Emily and Paige here running from the bleachers and notice that Maya, looking very distressed, was in the swimming gym the whole time. Maya ran out of the gym as fast as she could, and tried her hardest not to let tears fall from her eyes.


	14. Chapter 14

"Paige! Seriously, we can't do this!" Emily said as she turned to look at Maya leave the pool area.

"Em, I'm sorry. I probably would have never done that if I knew Maya was in here" Paige said. "It's just that I felt something when we used to hang out. And I know you did too."

Deep down inside Emily knew that Paige was right. But at the same time, she still had feelings for Maya as well. She had been so focused on Maya lately that she didn't realize how Paige must feel. As Emily and Maya rekindled their friendship, it was always in front of Paige since they're all in the same group. There were many times when Paige felt like a third-wheel and it really hurt her to see that the girl she liked was getting along so well we her past girlfriend in front of her face.

"And I hate what you do to me Em. I dread coming to chemistry class because of you! Every day, I have to sit there and watch you stroke Maya's hair, blush when she walks in, and listen to you guys reminisce about the times you guys used to have."

"Look Paige I'm sorry but…"

"No! I won't accept that!" Paige said angrily. "I'm tired of having to endure and hide my feelings for you. And I just wish you at least had the decency to not flirt with Maya in front of my face."

"I really didn't realize that I was doing that to you Paige. I would never want to hurt you like that." Emily said.

"I know you mean what you say, but I know it won't stop. My feelings for you won't stop….I..I can't work with you Emily. I can't have a constant reminder of what I can't have… I quit. I quit the group. I'm dropping the chemistry class first thing in the morning. "

"Paige, please you don't have to do that! We need you in our group. We can't do it without you." Emily said.

"Sure you can. And Emily, you deserve to be happy. And if you're not going to be happy with me, then I just don't want to see it every single day. Go be happy with Maya."

At that, Paige gets out of the pool and walks to the locker room.

Emily sat on the edge of the pool with her legs dangling in the water. She felt terrible for not realizing what she was doing to Paige and now she was more confused than ever.

…..

They next morning, Paige was on her way to her counselors when she bumped into Maya in the hallway.

"Maya, you never have to worry about seeing me again. I'm dropping the chemistry class." Paige said walking away.

"Wait" Maya said grabbing Paiges upper arm. "I do not have the right to be upset about anything that happened yesterday. It's not like me and Emily are in a relationship or anything. I guess…. I guess it just bought back old feelings."

"No, I'm sorry. It's obvious that there are sparks between you two and I shouldn't have gotten in between you two like that" Paige said looking down.

"You did nothing wrong." Maya said. "And why are you dropping chemistry? We need you. We wouldn't have an A if it wasn't for you."

"I just feel like it's the right thing to do."

"Paige people drop chemistry because they are failing, not because they're Aceing the class. Please don't drop the class because of us."

Paige stood there silently rubbing her neck.

"Look I know we haven't really gotten off on the right foot but if you really can't stand to be around me, then I should be the one to drop the class, not you. You deserve to be in that class, you work so hard."

"The last thing I want you to do is drop the class Maya."

"Then stay! Give me a chance to get to know you." Maya said.

"Why would you want to get to know me?" Paige asked confused.

"If Emily took the time to get to know you, then you must be a pretty awesome person." Maya said with a smile.

"How are you just so cool about this?" Paige asked

"I realized that I really need to move on. I can't expect Emily not to talk to other girls when I'm not even her girlfriend." Maya said.

"But don't you want to be with Emily? You've guys are like perfect for each other."

"I…I don't know. But I do know that I want her to be happy not matter what. And if that means that she'll be happy with someone else then so be it." Maya said.

"It's obvious she want to be with you" Paige said.

"I'm not the best thing for her. Trust me. I'll only bring her down or she'll be hurt in the end. She needs someone else….like you." Maya said

"I don't understand. How would you hurt her in the end? You're talking nonsense Maya" Paige said

"Are you free after school today?" Maya asked. "I thinks it's better that I show you. It will only take like 10 or 15 minutes"

"Well…sure" Paige said.

"And please don't drop the class, at least not today, until after a show you."

"Ok, I'll see you then."

…

After school, Maya pulled up in her 2013 Nissan Sentra as Paige walked to the curve.

"Hop in!" Maya yelled

Paige threw her bag in the back sit and sat in the passenger.

"Nice car Maya. Is it new?"

"Yep, I just got a couple of days ago."

"Wow your parents must really love you!" Paige said laughing.

"Actually, I'm paying for this myself." Maya said

"You must have an amazing job in order to pay for this."

"I guess you could say that." Maya said.

"Where do you work?" Paige asked.

"You're about to find out."

Maya pulled into a sketchy looking abandoned parking lot. She parked her car and got out.

"Come on" Maya said, motioning for Paige to get out of the car.

Maya walked to the back of the car to the trunk and Paige followed.

She opened the trunk and Paige was absolutely astonished as she looked inside.

Inside the trunk was over 200 pounds of illicit drugs. The drugs ranged from marijuana to cocaine to ecstasy.

"What the hell are you doing with all this!" Paige yelled. "What the fuck is going on?"

"I sell it. This is how I was able to get this car…I guess you could say I'm a drug dealer."


	15. Chapter 15

Although Paige was shocked about the news that she just found out, apart of her was happy because she knew that this was a legit enough reason for Emily not to want to be with her. Paige had promised Maya that she wouldn't say anything but telling Emily was all that she could think about. She figured that if Emily knew about the situation, then Emily would only want to be with her. Paige called Emily and told her to meet her in the park. The minute she saw Emily she spilled everything. The look on Emily's face almost made Paige smile because thought that there was no way the Emily would go back to Maya now.

"No, please don't lie to me" Emily said with a shell-shocked looked on her face.

"I wish I was lying, but unfortunately, I'm not." Paige said trying to hide her smirk4

"I have to go." Emily said as she ran to her car.

As Emily left the park, Paige was a bit disappointed that she didn't what to stay and hang out with her.

She needed to talk to Maya herself. She called her, texted her, and even went by her house without success. More than anything, Emily was worried. Since Maya was nowhere to be found, she called the next best thing, her best friends.

…..

"No way! No wonder she just got that new car" Hanna said as the all sat in Spencers kitchen.

"I guess all that time away was for nothing." Aria said.

"There has to be a valid reason. You don't just go to rehabilitation and come back a drug dealer." Spencer said.

"Apparently it happens, this means she's probably using them again too." Aria said

"I just doesn't make sense." Emily said. "Why wouldn't she tell me if something is wrong? I don't know what to do."

"Did Paige say where she showed her this stuff at?" Spencer asked

"Yeah, some abandon parking lot close to the theatre." Emily said

"Great, lets go!" Hanna said.

"Hanna!" Said Aria with a confused face.

"What? I don't want to go there to buy anything, I just want to investigate and see exactly whats going on." Hanna said. "A part of me doesn't believe it. We all know that Paige can be crazy."

"Do you want to do this Emily? If you don't want us to do this then we won't" Spencer said looking concerned.

"Yeah let's do it. Let's go" Emily said grabbing her bag.

…..

The girls slowly approached the parking lot as they drove.

"Hanna, turn off the headlights so we won't get spotted" Spencer said looking out the window. "Pull up over there."

Hanna parked the car behind a huge tree that blocked the car from sight and the girls got out the car to get closer to the parking lot.

"Looked there's her car over there." Emily whispered as they all walked closer to the parting lot crouching as they walked .

"Quick go over there" Aria said pointing at the bushes. "Get behind those"

The girls crouched behind the bushes and crawled closer to Maya's car.

"There she is." Spencer whispered.

Maya stood by the trunk of her car, pacing as if she was very nervous.

"Look, who's that coming?" Hanna asked pointing to the opposite side of the parking lot.

Across the parking lot, they saw a hooded figure, dressed in all black walking toward Maya and her car. This person was tall but they were unable to tell if it was a man or woman.

"It's fucking A!" Hanna said a bit too loudly.

"Shhhhhh! Hanna we might get spotted! "Spencer whispered.

"Come on lets get closer so we can hear better" Emily said getting closer to the car.

As the hooded figure got closer to Maya's car, Maya open up the back of her trunk.

"Good job Maya. She'll be pleased." Said a voice that none of the girls recognized. "Where's the money?"

Maya took a deep breath, reached into her purse and pulled about a stack of money and handed it over.

"Great, your new shipment should be in tomorrow. We need you to sell that by next Friday."

"Wait. How long do I have to do this? I can't keep sneaking around like this." Maya said looking scared

"We had an agreement remember? You help fundraise for our cause and Emily stays safe for the time being"

"I've been doing this for over a month and I still have no idea what this cause is. Who is all this money going to and what is it for?" Maya asked sternly

"Asking questions like that will get you killed Maya. Keep doing your job or else!"

"No!" Maya yelled, "I have a right to know whats going on."

"Don't get out of line, you fucking drug dealer! Trust me, you don't want to know who you're messing with! Now get in your car and leave!"

"Not until you tell me exactly why I'm doing this and what this has to do with Emily!"

Suddenly, the hooded figure quickly reached over and grabbed Maya by the neck choking her. Their hand was tight around Maya's neck, cutting off her circulation and preventing her from breathing. Maya grabbed the mysteries person's arm trying to free herself but she was losing the battle.

Without warning, Emily jumped from the bushes and ran toward Maya.

"Get your hands off or her!" Emily shouted

'A' quickly let gt and ran toward the abandon shopping complex. Maya plummeted to the ground breathing heavily trying to catch her breath. Emily ran to Maya and Hanna, Aria and Spencer ran after 'A.'

"Maya! Oh my gosh! Are you ok?" Emily put her hand on both sides of Maya's face.

All Maya could do was cough.

Emily put one arm behind Maya's knee's and the other are around her neck and shoulders and lifted her up to carry her to Hanna's car. As Emily was carrying her, Maya wrapped her arms around Emily's neck.

"Maya, what were you thinking? Why would you do that?" Emily asked placing her in the car.

"Don't worry about it, let just to get the girls and leave" Maya said forcibly since she was still trying to catch her breath.

"You can tell me not to worry!" Emily said angrily. "You could have been seriously hurt!"

"I rather it me be hurt than you Emily" Maya said with a serious tone and look in her eyes


End file.
